


And In My Heart You Never Left

by Jen425



Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Decade, Tokusatsu
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Multi, Post-Kamen Rider Zi-O
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28236585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Tsukasa and Daiki come home.
Relationships: Hikari Natsumi/Kadoya Tsukasa/Kaitou Daiki/Onodera Yuusuke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Another Toku Holiday Special (2020)





	And In My Heart You Never Left

**Author's Note:**

  * For [estelraca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/estelraca/gifts).



> Post-Zi-O sure is an interesting proposition now with the new news, isn’t it?
> 
> Well, I tried. Hope you like it!

Tsukasa always comes home.

That’s one of Natsumi’s constants, she supposes. There aren’t too many of those, really. They’ve been to so many Worlds, gone on separate adventures as often as shared ones, now.

And it’s true.

He always comes home, so does Daiki, so does Yuusuke, so does Natsumi herself.

And it’s not like she minds, not really. The first time, the Superhero Taisen, Daiki had come back hurt and angry, and Tsukasa…

They’d found him on some world, alone, not denying anything Daiki had said.

She loves them, but it’s hard when Daiki’s response to pain is lashing out and Tsukasa’s is internalization.

That had been months, between when he first left for the plan, left his camera behind and a cryptic “don’t follow me” which had been what alerted them, what had Daiki chasing after, and when they found him he’d just agreed with Daiki’s story in that ambiguous yet regretful way.

She doesn’t really blame him for taking to occasional short times on his own, after that. She’d taken to it too, as had Yuusuke.

(Daiki still leaves the most often.)

They still have a way of finding their way back together, at the same time.

It had never been months between that Tsukasa didn’t arrive, however, not since, until now.

Which means she’s rightly upset when he comes home with Daiki, and the first thing Daiki says is “Tsukasa died.”

She almost drops her cup.

“I didn’t die,” Tsukasa says. “If I did, my body would have disappeared.”

Which explains nothing at all.

“Okay,” Yuusuke says calmly, somehow more calm than her. But then, he’s made sure to follow Tsukasa during the fight with the Showa Riders. She’d never chanced upon the things which happened when they went to the World of Heroes. “What actually happened?”

“Zi-O… got complicated,” Tsukasa says. “I  _ didn’t die _ , but I’m still glad he,” he tilts his head at Daiki before striding over to his typical place lounging on the sofa, “was there.”

“He did something to the World converged on World of Heroes,” Daiki adds. “Fixed the problem.”

“We think,” Tsukasa adds. “He was… he wanted to lead more than I ever did, but he wanted to help, too. And his friends made sure the right desire won out.”

…Oh. That would explain why. Natsumi places her cup down.

“What all happened?” She asks.

“Tsukasa saw a mini-him and got invested,” Daiki says.

“Zi-O isn’t like me,” Tsukasa says.

“Used by evil that wanted his power, a Red Rider by his side, a girl who believes in him…”

“That leaves you and Woz.”

“That’s…”

Natsumi locks eyes with Yuusuke who seems equally lost, but he smiles at her and shrugs, tilting his head slightly.

_ They’re smiling at each other, things went alright. _

Natsumi sighs. She supposes he’s right.

She listens to the rest of the story then, and yes, she understands. She thinks she doesn’t want either of them to leave for at least a month (a possibility with Tsukasa, if nothing else), but she once again  _ understands _ .

“In summary, Zi-O isn’t like me,” Tsukasa offers. “He’s better.”

…No.

“That’s not true,” Yuusuke says a moment before Natsumi can.

“Don’t say that,” Natsumi adds. “Tsukasa…”

“It’s true,” Tsukasa says. “He was more dangerous, too.”

The way he says it, so matter-of-factly. Old wounds they still avoid.

The fact that frankly Natsumi can’t find a counter argument.

Tsukasa sighs.

“Don’t worry too much,” he says. “I didn’t die.”

Natsumi doesn’t know what to say, so, for now, she drops it. And with it, all tension.

No matter how far or long, the moments like this remind her why she always welcomes them home.

  
  
  


When Natsumi’s worried about them, her hand always ends up at their stomachs, not at their hearts.

Yuusuke doesn’t think it’s a conscious thing, knows it makes no sense for Daiki, but he notices it.

Where the Amadam rests in him, where she had…

But no, he supposes, if he thinks about that he’ll have to really consider the implications in the story the others had crafted. World shifting again, parallels…

Tsukasa had almost died. Daiki had risked something dangerous to save him. Yuusuke hadn’t been there.

He doesn’t transform immediately, doesn’t like it. He fights when it’s needed, and it’s better that way. Other worlds not his own have monsters he needs to pause before fighting, remembering which ones can have hearts and which ones are human underneath.

He does fight.

Daiki had wandered in once more and Yuusuke hadn’t been there, and he doesn’t want to think about not being there when Tsukasa sacrificed himself again. It ties into too much he refuses to remember.

But yeah, he notices the way Natsumi’s hand tilts lower against his chest as he hugs her, the other two grabbing clothes for bed.

“It’s too much,” she says. “I wasn’t there.”

Yuusuke sighs, grabbing her hand.

“I know,” he says. “But it could have been worse. They came back. Sometimes we have to find each other.”

Natsumi sighs.

“I know,” she says. “I’m glad for that. But…”

She trails off. Yuusuke understands regardless.

“I know,” he says. “But for now, We’re all here?”

“And what’s this murmuring?” Daiki asks then, standing in the doorway as Yuusuke looks up. “It isn’t overthinking, is it?”

He’s smiling, at least.

They came back smiling, which is better than the first time, or coming back from the fight against the Showa Riders unable to leave Tsukasa’s side or touch him with the old memories it had dragged with it.

Yuusuke responds in kind for that reason.

“No,” he says. “You’re staying in here tonight?”

“Am I not invited?” Daiki asks, a small fake-pout on his face.

“Yes,” Tsukasa replies, standing behind Daiki in the doorway. “But you can come anyways.”

The fake pout dissipates.

“Think I’ll stick around for a bit,” Daiki says, smiling. “Unless something else goes wrong.”

“None of that tonight,” Natsumi says, then. “Either of you.”

“As you wish, Natsumelon,” Daiki says exaggeratedly and with a false bow.

Yuusuke laughs, locking eyes with a smiling Tsukasa.

Other worries for later.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
